I'm A Truck-Drivin' Mama! LOL

We survived the storms of Friday and Saturday, and Sunday dawned bright, sunny, and full of possibilities. I knew it was going to be a hard day of work - wood was on the agenda. DH began the day by cleaning the garage. Now, mind you, it is something that he could have done (mostly) on Saturday while he was busy texting me and moaning about how he was getting nothing accomplished because it was raining. But no, he started the chore on Sunday morning instead. 

We were cleaning up because we would be buying
a LOT of wood for the wood shed, all of which
needed to be stored in the garage. We were
also going to be renting one of these - pretty
snazzy. 

We needed to clean the garage because wood was on the agenda for the day - wood, wood and even more wood. We were going to Home Depot to purchase all of the supplies for the woodshed, and because of the amount we were buying and the dimensions of the lumber, we were going to rent one of their trucks to get it all home. We cleaned the garage until after noon, and actually did quite a lot to re-organize and clear out space. The wood all needed to go into the garage for storage until it was needed for the building project. The shed would be too small for it (although quite a few items from the garage found their way into the shed). 

We clean our gutters around the house all of the
time. It helps control rain overflow. The back
gutter is two stories up, though, and we never
had an extension ladder long enough. We do
now. DH added a 20-foot extension ladder
to yesterday's purchase. 

Home Depot was busy, and I discovered I'm pretty darned good at steering a cart heavily laden with dimensional wood, much of which was 10 - 12 feet long. It was heavy, unwieldy, and generally somewhat dangerous, but we accomplished our goal: 8-4x4x10 posts, 6-2x6x10 boards, 2 sheets of plywood, 6-1x8x12 ground contact cedar, and lots, lots more, almost all of which was at least 10 feet long. In addition to all of that, since we were renting a truck anyway, he added a 20-foot extension ladder - something he's wanted for a long time. 

We had two pizzas at Old Chicago Tap Room, one was
 their "Thai Pie" pizza which always comes as
 a deep dish. It's been a favorite
of ours for more than 20 years. 

The truck was rather fun to drive, but I neglected to put gas into it (it was only a 10-mile round trip and the gauge still read above the "Full" level). I should have done that because I was assessed a "gas" fee of $14. Bad me. But still, the truck only ended up costing us $38 and we got the lumber home and unloaded quickly and without problems. So it was well worth it. 

The second pizza we had was their Chicago Fire
pizza. This was a new one - it had only be
available as a calzone before this. We had
it on thin crust and it was awesome! Nice
and spicy with lots of peppers. 

Now the lumber is stacked in an orderly manner against the back wall of the garage, the cars still fit comfortably, and we're ready to start construction as soon as the lumber seasons a bit more. DH says the lumber is really "wet". He was grumbling about that at every stop throughout the store. After we got the wood stored, he started spreading more black dirt on the backyard, trying to change it slightly to help control the erosion and prep the yard for grass seed. If the storms stay away for a few days, we might be able to get that done on Tuesday. 

We treated ourselves to pizza at Old Chicago. So good! We had a coupon for a free pizza, so it was almost 50% off, a great deal and we have leftover pizza for the next night or two. Huzzah! Have a great Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. The saga continues - LOL. 

What a Wonderful Sunday

I was nervous - I admit that - but my fears didn't come to pass. My team, my own Denver Broncos, succeeded, and they will be one of the two teams in the Super Bowl in two weeks. It was a heck of a game and New England gave them a real fight. As a result, it was a really fun game to watch and came down to the wire. I'll happily wear my Broncos gear for another two weeks.

Two weeks of hype now start. The Super Bowl is a media
frenzy leading up to the game. If the players focus on their
play instead of the press, it might be a great game. I'm
just happy my beloved Broncos are in it this year. 

We will be playing against the Carolina Panthers and their game against Arizona was a rout! Carolina was the team to beat all season and had the best record. If yesterday's game was standard for them, it's no wonder they are as highly rated as they are. It's going to be a hard fight, but hopefully a good game. The #1 offense - the Panthers, will meet the #1 defense - the Broncos. I only hope for a good game. If the Broncos manage to win this one, I'll be over the moon, but I don't want a blow-out.

The wax melting pot looked very similar to this hot glue melting
pot, and for $2.50 it was well worth the try. It works really well. 

DH needed a method of attaching his stones to holders so he could shape them. He's been playing with his Cab King shaper, and had been frustrated by the glue not holding things well. So he wanted to try some dopping wax we had purchased a few years ago. I brought the wax home from the shop on Saturday and he needed to get a few things, so we went on a hunt on Sunday before the games started.

I found a funny little thing. It's a glue pot - apparently made to melt hot glue sticks into a small puddle so that many flowers or whatever can be dipped into the molten glue and attached at once. I thought it might work as a dopping pot, and it was on clearance for $2.50. I showed it to DH and we took a chance. It worked a charm! It melted the wax beautifully and he was able to continue working on his machinery. He was very happy.

We went to Old Chicago for pizza. A deep dish medium Thai Pie
in the back, a small thin crust Chicago 7 in the foreground.
It was SO good and well worth the calories. We paired the
pizza with a couple of craft beers. Heaven and a really fun treat. 

We treated ourselves to pizza for an early dinner (or late lunch) and had some fancy cupcakes late in the evening. I had blueberry cheesecake cupcake and added a lot of fresh blueberries to my plate. So good! All in all, the weekend was great, even though I didn't get a chance to meet Johnny Weir who was in town at the US Figure Skating Championships. They were held just down the road at the Xcel Center in downtown St Paul. I caught the women's finals on Saturday night, but couldn't watch the men's finals on Sunday because I was watching football. Oh well, can't have it all.

The pool is calling. Happy Monday to all of you and Happy Birthday to my favorite astronomer in Croatia!